•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

After a slew of bus accidents in less than two weeks, including one in Bogor that killed 14 people, lawmakers are casting the blame on the Transportation Ministry and demanding accountability.

“In the first 10 days of February, there have been four bus accidents that have killed dozens of people and injured dozens more,” Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Yudi Widiana Adia said on Sunday.

“In January, there was an accident that claimed six lives. If the Transportation Ministry continues to ignore this, we are going to exercise our right to summon them here to account for road safety.”

Yudi, who is part of the House of Representatives’ committee on transportation safety, said lawmakers had done their part by passing the Traffic Law in 2009.

The law sets out measures to prevent accidents by requiring vehicles to be in roadworthy condition and by requiring candidate drivers to take driving courses, with sanctions for violations.

But the Transportation Ministry failed to follow up with proper guidance and enforcement, Yudi said, and accidents rose in 2011. According to a committee report, the main causes were drunk or drug-affected drivers, unroadworthy vehicles and reckless driving.

He said the government had not been serious about reducing the number of traffic accidents, citing as proof its failure to meet a mid-2011 deadline to present the House with an accident-prevention safety plan.

Michael Wattimenna, who is also on the House’s committee on transportation safety, added that he recommended lawmakers question the owners of the bus involved in the latest crash.

On Friday evening, 14 people died when a Karunia Bhakti bus plowed into 13 other vehicles and several bystanders before plunging off an embankment in Cisarua, Bogor. Fifty-four people were injured, 10 critically.

Michael said Karunia Bhakti’s management should be called in to give a testimony that might help lawmakers understand management practices in the public transportation industry.

“We need to shed some light on this problem,” he said. “I hope we can call in not just Karunia Bhakti, but also the management of other major bus lines and other stakeholders.”

Bogor Police announced on Sunday that the driver of the Karunia Bhakti bus had explained how he survived the crash and why he fled the scene of the accident on Friday before being arrested near his home in Garut.

At the end of its dramatic series of collisions, the bus had plunged down an embankment, coming to rest front-down in a nearly vertical position.

But driver Lukman Iskandar, 43, told police that he did not leap to safety before impact, remaining in his seat until bystanders helped him to safety. He then fled because he worried he would be the target of anger and because he wanted to allay any fears his family had for his safety.

“He took off spontaneously, and he hurried back to his home because he wanted to tell his family about the accident, that he was safe and that the accident was due to brake failure,” Bogor Police spokesman Zainal Abidin said on Sunday.

Lukman has been named a suspect and will be charged with negligent driving causing death, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in jail.

The driver tested negative for drugs, Zainal added.

Additional reporting by Vento Saudale